The shift to thrift

In late 2012, I got a call from Wayne Hemingway. He and Gerardine Hemingway had met John Orchard, developer of award-winning Lingfield Point, Darlington, once Patons and Baldwins knitting factory, now upcycled into a business park. Together they had the idea of a festival to celebrate this achievement and wanted a director.  What did I think? I was not enthralled.

However, once persuaded to visit, the sensitive redevelopment of 1920s art deco buildings, 21st century reimagining of warehouses, plus public artworks across the site sold me, and I agreed. 

They’d already given it a name, Festival of Thrift, and production manager David Bilton and I set about programming, fundraising, recruiting volunteers and building support. Together we established a set of aims that, ten years later, are broadly what we still adhere to. To promote sustainable living by highlighting the skills and creativity of artists and craftspeople, inspiring people of all ages to learn old ways and find new ways to be creative in their everyday lives. 

We knew we were living in a wasteful and throwaway society and were determined to encourage real behaviour change – the shift to thrift. That first festival introduced ideas that have been core to the event ever since; a Swapshop to exchange goods we no longer need for things we do, and a Fix It Café, led by artists Marek Gabrych and Lindsay Duncanson, to learn how to repair everything from old teasmades and bikes to favourite denims and a wonky rocking chair. 

We started Bistro du Van where home chefs of every cultural background cooked up a storm, then served the meals in campervans offered by local residents. And Jamallot, jam making from allotment fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste (and of course Jamalittle for the kids!). We initiated our upcycled fashion show with Teesside University which has since become an annual showcase for slow fashion, ECOuture. 

No longer the Smoggies

Oddly, I remember an ACE officer asking me early on, where is the art? I think what she meant was, where are the artists? And of course, they’re there, at the heart. That first programme also included a junk orchestra led by Brendan Murphy and a communally woven sculpture with artist Shane Waltener sat alongside Francis Thorburn’s crazy human powered vehicle. 

But so also was that hugely creative public who embraced Thrift wholeheartedly, actively contributing. It wasn’t just our Festival, it belonged to local people, involving hundreds in different ways in sharing their skills, knowledge and passion. We had clearly hit on something that was meaningful. We imagined 5,000 – 6,000 people might attend. 25,000 turned up to explore all it offered.

Since then, audiences have more than doubled to 60,000 this year in our second home of Redcar. In 2015 the Lingfield Point site was sold and we made the move here in 2016, when the council invited us to bring some pride back to the place as the huge steelworks closed. 

We set up a community interest company and vowed to become a peripatetic event that shared the love of Thrift across the Tees Valley by moving every few years. Post steel, the Tees Valley is refocussing itself as the low carbon capital of the UK and we wanted to work across all five boroughs to highlight that we are no longer the Smoggies of yesteryear.

Sharing our passion 

We’ve engaged with countless groups and individuals who share our passion for a more sharing, reusing, exchanging and mutually supportive way of life. We’ve been finding ways to involve them in projects from creating a sustainable bamboo hangout space with Coventry based Imagineers and Pif Paf’s Pete Gunson, to encouraging young people to speak out about the planet on our Young Peoples Podium. We believe a sustainable community is a creative community, and that artists are at the heart of that. 

We evolved from an early focus on make-do-and-mend and an annual event to shout more loudly about the climate emergency and get involved in year-round in activities and campaigning. We were proud to participate in the national Right to Repair campaign in 2021 that successfully led to a Bill going through Parliament ensuring we can repair new laptops and mobile phones instead of sending them to landfill.

We call ourselves the National Festival of Sustainability, but we’ve still got a huge amount to learn from peers inside and outside the cultural sector. We partner with schools, colleges, universities to showcase their work and research and involve groups like Surfers Against Sewage, Culture Declares Emergency, Walking Forest, and others to share their knowledge and skills.  

So many others are doing great things and we are grateful to Outdoor Arts UK and Julie’s Bicycle for guidelines that can help us all improve our practice across the board; from green generators to composting toilets, banning single use plastic to measuring our travel use. Our sustainability pledge is prominent on our website to provide a clear message and demonstrate our actions to audiences and partners.

On the move again

We have a range of entry points to engage with issues and ideas. It might be a fun performance like Adrenaline’s “Hey Text me Your Climate Change Solutions” or a live link up with artists in the Amazon Basin to highlight the effects of mining and climate change on their communities. 

We offer tips on energy reduction and insulating your home with RIBA, and making your money go further with Darlington Building Society. And the artists are always highly visible, at the heart, as in this year’s moving collaboration between Ackroyd and Harvey and Ben Okri. On the Shore (Version 2) remounted the work, first seen at Tate Modern and floated on the Thames, on the external wall of Kirkleatham museum (see picture). 

We’ve come a long way, and we’re on the move again, this time to Billingham for 2023. It’s no longer viable for us to host a Festival in a place where so many travel by car. So we will take over the town centre – within walking distance of the train station. I step down in November and hand over to new Creative Directors Tanya Steinhauser and Dominic Somers, who will join co Director Emma Whitenstall as leaders alongside the thousands of Thrifters who have been on the journey with us so far. 

Stella Hall is Director of the Festival of Thrift, the UK’s National Celebration of Sustainable Living.
 www.festivalofthrift.co.uk
@ThriftFest